Dignity

Albert Einstein is said to have said, “try not to become a man of success, try to become a man of value.”  Something I read recently was concerning character.  It said something like, “if you don’t have character then you will not display it in your hour of need, but if you do, you will.”
In recent times the concept of dignity has been one I have been considering.  It is important to me that I treat everyone with dignity - not just royalty or people of high position.  It also means the lowly and those considered “also rans” on the stage of life.
Merril and I often joke when watching something that “that person was not given a name.”  We therefore think (and it is often so) they will meet a bad end.
To me dignity is everyone having a name.  What I consider one of the greatest compliments I ever got was someone saying to me “you treat everyone the same.”
That to me is so true.  I like to interact with what some consider people of high estate.  Incidentally I have found that often people some consider in the stratosphere are people just like me who appreciate just being treated as real and an acknowledgement that their wants and desires are often similar to others.  All that is lacking is others approaching them and treating them with respect but like normal people.
I am also often in a position where I interact with people some would consider not worthy of their time.  It is often not a deliberate rudeness but an unseeing rudeness.
Personally I try to avoid that.  My desire is to be treated with dignity and respect, and I endeavour to treat others in the same way.  After all it does seem that being put down and treated as inferior seems to be the lot in life of many.  That to me is particularly hard when a person does not have their own sense of self worth.  A sense that they really matter.
I think everyone really matters.  Statistics are easy to quote yet so often they represent the hopes and aspirations of individuals, and the love of others.
I therefore try (and have been for a good bit of life) to treat others well.  Treat the pauper like royalty.  My turn may or may not come, yet my sense of self worth is not built on acknowledgement by those around me but on the acknowledgement of a good friend who I know has got my back.
To me it matters to treat everyone with dignity.  We are all worth it.